Tuckerman House (1886-1967)
The Tuckerman House was a family residence until 1939 and demolished in 1967 to make way for the new headquarters of the Motion Picture Association of America.
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Built by the DC based architectural firm Hornblower and Marshall, the Tuckerman House featured red brick with smoothly cut red sandstone. The house was built in a similar style to architect H.H. Richardson's (1838-1886) work; some of his commissions were within a block of the Tuckerman’s house.
The Tuckerman House was home to New York iron manufacturer, Lucius Tuckerman (1818-1890), who moved to DC for a milder climate due to his failing health. Following the passing of his wife, Elizabeth Tuckerman (1819-1906), the house became the residence of Pennsylvania Congressman, Henry Kirke Porter (1840-1921) in 1909. Upon Porter's daughter's passing in 1939, his descendants left the house to the Library of Congress and the Smithsonian Institution.
The institutions sold Tuckerman House in 1945 to the Motion Picture Association of America (MPA), which used the building as their headquarters. When the MPA considered replacing the Tuckerman House with a new headquarters building, preservationists (along with the National Capital Planning Commission) protested the plan, but their efforts failed. Despite its historic site designation in 1964, the MPA demolished the house to construct an eight-story, Brutalist office building. The new building was completed in 1968, and further renovations took place in 2019.
DC Inventory: November 8, 1964
